This paper tries to discern a space, which is conceptually anterior to the practice and reception of interlingual translation, though it arguably has a determinative function with regard to both. It is argued that though theorists and practitioners have long been aware of this space, it has seldom been adequately discussed. This space is tentatively designated as one of interlingual encounter and any effort to apprehend it entails an examination of the nuances of perceiving one language through another at any hypothetical point of contact rather than in the actual translational product or reading. Several theoretical generalisations about interlingual encounter, which may have a bearing on interlingual translational activity, are offered. Degrees of familiarity and competence are considered; the idealised nuances of Quine’s notion of “radical translation” are examined. The paper concludes with the observation that interlingual encounters could provide the basis of a pragmatic re-examination of products of translation and of the theory of translation.